This Is What Experiencing A Burglary Feels Like

Home security advice is everywhere these days, even on this very blog. It’s impossible to avoid it; the constant talk about how to keep your home safe, how to avoid your house falling victim to a burglary, how to protect yourself etc. etc.

Have you ever wondered why these points are made so sternly? Why the importance of security is beaten into the public consciousness at every turn, from simple online blog posts down to warnings on the local news?

The reason isn’t just a simple matter of home security in and of itself. Sure, that’s important, but what this advice is trying to do is prevent harm. Some of the harm it’s trying to prevent is to your home and your possessions, but for the most part, the people giving advice want to prevent the real, emotional damage that falling victim to a burglary can cause.

If you’re lax on your home security, you likely have a justification for it. You might think that it’s only possessions; you’ve got insurance, the items lost can be replaced. However, you may be massively underestimating the true impact of what it feels like to experience a burglary. It’s not about the items you lose; it’s about the damage it can do you mentally and emotionally. You might think that you’d handle it fine, but those who have actually lived through a burglary would argue differently.

Those who have fallen victim to burglaries are vocal about the impact going through the experience had on them. So what do they say it’s like to experience a burglary not as an abstract concept, but something they have to live through?

A Feeling Of Being Violated

A burglar will have been in your home; your private space, where you should be safe from the world. They will have gone through your drawers; your wardrobe; every nook and cranny will have been inspected by malicious hands.

The feeling of invasion, of violation, that this knowledge creates can be incredibly traumatic. Your home was meant to be your sanctuary, but now it has been disturbed. Some victims even report they never feel comfortable in their home again.

Absolute Paranoia

When they have been through a burglary, people are never dismissive about the possibility of it happening again. They are obsessive. They research all the home security methods they can, poring over details of deterring plants, looking through full security system details at Suddenlink.com and other suppliers, constantly comparing makes and manufacturers… the need for future protection becomes all-consuming. This isn’t healthy; it’s obsessive.

The problem can be so severe that victims don’t feel they want to leave their house, for fear of being burgled again. In fact, TheWeek.com published an article that suggested burglary victims can experience Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Having To Move Home

This is the eventual result of many a burglary. The victim feels so unsafe in their home, their space feels so very violated, that they ultimately have to move home.

So given that a burglary is (relatively, at least) easy to prevent, why not save yourself a lot of future trauma and take action before it’s too late?